To Adaego With Love, directed by Nwamaka Chikezie and produced by Brenda Ogbukaa-Garuba (with executive production by Tony B. Adesina), is a 1975-set post–civil war romantic drama that follows Adaego Ezekwe, an Igbo schoolteacher, and Major Balarabe Bala Alkali, a Northern soldier, who fall in love in a country still dealing with the aftermath of conflict. The film is currently showing in Nigerian cinemas following its February 6, 2026 release.

Set in the immediate post–Nigerian Civil War era (Biafra aftermath), the film leans heavily into ethnic tension, distrust, and the emotional weight of national reconciliation. The story is rooted in Eastern Nigeria but carries a wider national context, constantly reminding you that personal relationships at the time were shaped by history and division.

Their relationship is not just complicated, it is loaded. Every interaction carries the weight of where they are coming from and what their families remember.

The film wastes no time pretending this will be easy. Adaego’s father, shaped by deep personal loss from the war, strongly opposes the relationship, representing the unresolved trauma and anger of that period. That family pressure becomes one of the strongest emotional anchors in the film.

At its core, the film is about love versus loyalty, and healing versus memory. It keeps circling one question without forcing an answer: whether people, and by extension a country, can truly move on from what has already divided them.

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What stands out is how grounded it feels. The characters are not overwritten, and the emotions are not forced. Adaego is not written as a symbol of rebellion, she is simply navigating life and expectation. Bala is not positioned as a villain or saviour, just a soldier trying to exist beyond what he represents. That balance makes the relationship feel believable rather than staged.

The performances do a lot of heavy lifting here. Chisom Agoawuike brings quiet restraint and emotional clarity to Adaego, while Adam Garba plays Bala with control that avoids exaggeration. The supporting cast, including Chioma Chukwuka Akpotha, Bob-Manuel Udokwu, Riyo David, Demi Banwo, and Alfred Atungu, strengthens the family and societal pressure around the central story. Onyeka Onwenu’s appearance also carries added emotional weight as part of her final screen performance.

This is not a fast film. It runs for about two hours (120–129 minutes) and moves through conversation, silence, and emotional tension rather than big dramatic turns. If anything, its strength is in how it refuses to rush its themes.

It also helps that the film has already been recognised critically, winning Best Feature Film and Best Screenplay at AFRIFF 2025, which speaks to how strongly the writing and structure land even beyond audience reaction.

At a distribution level, it is handled by Tribe Nation Distribution, and it also stands out as a multilingual Nigerian production (English with Igbo elements), which adds to its cultural grounding.

To Adaego with Love is a post-war narrative built on ethnic division, historical trauma, and the attempt to frame romance as a lens for national healing.

And even though it never spells it out directly, that is the tension it keeps carrying from start to finish.

To Adaego With Love is not a normal Nollywood loud story, it is calm, but if you sit with it, it lands in a way that feels familiar in a very Nigerian sense, especially if you understand what that history still carries.

Worth watching if you are into historical stories that feel close to home rather than dressed up for effect.

Cynthia Nwanonyiri